ADNA — Benjamin “Benji” Sandrini walks across the room to pick up his black-and-white cat, Lucky, who likes to pester visitors to his Adna home. When he’s not indoors keeping track of his mischievous pet, Sandrini spends a few hours a week tinkering around on tractors.
“I pulled out a PTO shaft on two tractors,” said Sandrini, who turns 29 today. “I loved it. It was like all my memory came back.”
These simple actions are anything but routine for Sandrini. In fact, they have amazed his grandmother and primary caregiver, Anita Sandrini.
Her grandson, a W.F. West High School graduate, has been living with an inoperable tumor since 2004. After examinations from several state doctors as well as medical professionals at the famed Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, nobody could figure out what caused it, or how to effectively treat it.
Anita says her grandson had a difficult year. Since 2009, the steroids Benji was on as part of his treatment regimen caused his hips to weaken to the point where he had to replace both of them, and was confined to a wheelchair. In between surgeries, his grandfather passed away.
Before he underwent hip replacement surgery, Benji had to grapple with the painful side effects of his tumor. The tumor often triggered headaches that left him doubled over in pain. For a long time, he had to live at a nursing facility and be sedated to endure them.
Over the years he’s experimented with lots of medications and treatments to minimize the side effects of the tumor and attempt to shrink it.
He tried radiation, but suffered some chemical burns during one of the initial sessions, which prevented him from receiving any further radiation therapy. So far, the tumor hasn’t grown, but it also hasn’t shrunk.
But over the few months, Benji has seemed to take a turn for the better, Anita said. She points to recent gradual but significant signs of improvement, like being able to work without constant discomfort.
He still has headaches, but they don’t occur as often as before. He’s now off most of his medication. And his hips have healed enough so he no longer needs a wheelchair.
“He’s had such a turnaround,” Anita said. “I can’t explain it. It’s a miracle.”
His recovery has helped him re-discover the hobbies he once enjoyed before the diagnosis.
Besides working on vehicles (he used to be an auto mechanic, working along side his brother, father and grandfather at the family construction company), he’s begun creating pottery pieces. He recently completed a blue-checkered teapot. It’s something he couldn’t complete while he was in a wheelchair, as his pottery wheel was located upstairs.
But Benji has gained strength. With each passing day, he shows signs of improvement. He’s no longer isolated indoors. He goes on outings to local shopping centers. He occasionally drives to visit friends in Olympia. And earlier this year, he took his first three-hour plane ride to Las Vegas. His doctors had ordered him not to go on an airplane, for fear of the cabin pressure causing him pain, Anita said. She and Benji stayed in Las Vegas for one day, and then flew home the next. Both flights went smoothly. The shorter plane trip was a test to see how well he’d fare, because Benji said one day he’d like to visit New York.
But he still has bad days. Sometimes a headache will strike out of nowhere, and he has to get injections to cope with the sharp throbbing. But even with the uncertainty of ever finding a cure for the tumor, Benji and Anita still have a positive outlook on life.
They both say the community outpouring of support over the years has helped lift their spirits, especially on the days the physical — and emotional — pain seem to take the largest toll. The Sandrinis keep boxes filled with get-well cards and letters from community members and strangers who have heard about Benji’s triumphs and struggles. Every week Benji receives mail from someone who says they are praying for him. Sometimes there are pictures. Some are created by hand from children. Sometimes they come enclosed with candy. Each parcel arriving in the mailbox is like a blessing, the Sandrinis say.
“It’s amazing to see how much people care,” Anita said. “Every time something arrives in the mail he gets so excited.”
February will be the seventh anniversary of when Benji was diagnosed with the tumor. He still hopes for a cure.
“You just have to relax and take one day at a time,” he said.
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Rachel Thomson: (360) 807-8245
